The transition from Winter to Spring

The sun is shining, the sky is blue… It is Spring! The days are getting longer and the meadows are starting to become green. Spring is lovely, but ailments are lurking. Things such as itches, colic, mud fever, and laminitis are important to prevent by supporting your horse during the changing from Winter to Spring.

The transition of Spring
Different things change when Winter is coming to its end. The light hours increase every day, and your horse starts to shed from its winter coat to its summer coat. Grass starts to grow, and horses may go to the meadows which means that the rations change. Not only the grass is growing, but also other plants and trees are also starting to grow and bloom. Very lovely, however your horse could get allergies due to pollen. All of these changes could lower the resistance of your horse and could need a boost.

The build-up of the grazing season during spring
Depending on the weather conditions, horses usually go to the meadows in April. Most horse owners know that it isn’t wise to let your horse graze for full days after staying in the stables during winter. The health of your horse needs to build up the grazing seasons, and also the change of hay to grass. There are serious threats when grazing too much grass in Spring.
Het is daarom enorm belangrijk de weidegang langzaam op te bouwen en jouw paard steeds in korte periodes te laten wennen aan het gras. Een supplement om de suikerspiegel in balans te houden kan daarnaast preventief gegeven worden tijdens de opbouw van het weideseizoen. Meer weten over hoe je de overgang van stal naar weide soepel kan laten verlopen? Lees dan onze blog.
The sunlight helps the grass to produce more sugar. This sugar is called fructane. Most of the fructane is produced when the grass is growing at its fastest. If your horse eat too much grass, or is your horse sensitive to sugar? Then it might increase the chance of getting laminitis.

Hay fever, and other itches
Between February and September are flowers, plants, trees and grasses blooming. During this period these plants produce pollen. Pollen is taken by the wind. Both horses and humans could experience hay fever. This is an allergic reaction to pollen. In horses you can recognize hay fever in various symptoms such as:
• Shaking its head
• Runny nose with clear nasal discharge
• Sneezing or coughing
• Shortness of breath
• Itching nose
Do you think that your horse suffers from hay fever? Various plants like Boswellia, Bromelaine, and black berry leaves could help your horse to have a normal histamine release, and to support the resistance of the skin, airways, and mucous membranes.

Is your horse suffering from annoying itches, which isn’t hay fever during Spring? During the change of its coat, insect bites or other changes could be the cause of Sweet itch or insect bite hypersensitivity. Sweet itch could be very annoying which could cause that your horse is scratching itself until it bleeds. Herbs such as fenugreek, nettle, marigold, chamomilla, dandelion, licorice, and milk thistle could help to increase the skin healing ability and thus decreasing itches.

Hormonal changes of horses during spring
As soon as the sun starts to shine, some horses may get spring fever. Spring gives your horse extra energy and starts to gallop in the meadows. This energetic behavior could cause horses to try to breed and mares could experience extreme hormonal behavior. The oestrus cycle could start showing during Spring when this isn’t usual during winter. Due to the raging hormones during spring, some mares may experience the need to breed and will act to it.
To support the oestrus cycle, you could give a herb mix made from monk’s peppers, passion flowers, hops, valerian, and L-Tryptophan. Besides this, it could work in relaxing and to keep hormone levels more balanced. Do you want to know more about how you could support the oestrus cycle? Then read this blog about the oestrus cycle and pregnant mares.